Tags
Adjei Agyei Baah, Africa, Afriku, Ghana, Haiku, Red Moon Press
Review
Happy New Year to you all my lovely friends. I pray this year brings us all much joy and achievement. I am on leave but I shall be blogging every now and then.
Today, I’m posting well, a sort of review of AFRIKU, HAIKU AND SENRYU FROM GHANA. by Adjei Agyei Baah, a fellow Ghanaian and one of the first to write haiku, (long before me) in Ghana. He is the first to coin the term Afriku; haiku written to denote the peculiar culture and imagery of Africa.
Adjei’s is able to capture the depth and wealth of African sounds, sights, images and smells in simple and yet rich language. The added beauty of this debut jewel of a haiku and senryu collection is the translations from English into the local vernacular, Akan. 
How excited l was yesterday as l delved into the book and feasted my eyes and senses.
Simply check these out:
morning dew
perhaps heaven weeps
for mankind.
How very apt. How so profound.
distant cry
the heart fall
of a mother
My heart did a flip when l read this. Motherhood, the joys and pain.
just a moment –
distant lightening connects
sky and earth.
The sheer brilliance, the beauty of such a phenomenon as l imagined it.
About the Author
Adjei Agyei-Baah is a founding partner of Poetry Foundation Ghana, a teacher, and lecturer for Serwaa Nyarko Girls Senior High School, Kumasi and Institute of Continuing and Distance Education, University of Ghana respectively. He is also the co-editor of Poetry Ink Journal, a yearly poetry anthology in Ghana. He is widely anthologized both home and abroad and among his outstanding works are the praise songs “Ashanti” and “Ghost on Guard” written for the King of Ashanti and the late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana respectively.
Adjei is a devotee of the Japanese poetry form haiku and has written and published in e-zines and international journals such as Frogpond, World Haiku Review, The Heron’s Nest, Shamrock etc. and is one of the top winners of 3rd Japan–Russia Haiku Contest 2014, organized by Akita International University, Japan, making him the ultimate recipient of the Akita Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Award.
Adjei is a co-founder of Africa Haiku Network, and co-launched ‘The Mamba’, Africa’s first international haiku journal.
Reading Pleasure 
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Lovely to see a wonderful post about a Ghanaian poet.
Thanks for your kind words about my debut book, AFRIKU. You may also love to read another insightful review by a fellow friend at home here:
http://www.poetsinnigeria.org.ng/index.php/book-review-issue-6/
Hello Celestine my beloved sister, thanks so much for this short and apt review…perhaps confirming the haiku axiom that…”less sometimes is more”. I really like the pieces that you selected for analysis, as it did communicate the very essence which gave birth to them. In fact what more can i say dear? Let’s just press on with this task which has become our calling and i’m sure Africa will be proud that we found her a spot in the annals of world haiku
My warmest pleasure, my friend. The greater is yet to come for African haiku. Congratulations once again. 🙂
What a glowing review. I’m glad that you enjoyed it.
Thanks for Nana Prah for reading the review of my book. Really appreciate your time here
A good review Celestine. I hope 2017 is a fantastic year for you
Al, Happy New Year. 🙂 Thanks for the comment. Afriku is a great book. 🙂
🙂
Sounds great, love the images. I shall add it to my list. Happy New Year my friend.
Thanks Ste J for your assuring words….you may contact me if you want copies autographed for free
Thank you very much!
Great, Ste J. I’m sure you would love the book. May 2017 bring you all that your heart desires. 🙂
And you my dear friend.